What Is Soloman Like Cleopatra

In contrast, Soloman argues that Antony’s choice between Rome and Egypt is not clear and quite complicated. While duty instructs Antony to surrender himself to a life with Octavia, she is not presented as a perfect solution. Octavia does not inspire sympathy with her shrewish behaviour, as she steps outside of her feminine role, and tries to make Antony “her branded slave” (3.1.325). She does so by threatening Antony with her powerful brother, Octavius (3.1.327). Her actions depict her as a woman who wants Antony not for love, but as a symbol of her family’s power. In contrast, Cleopatra garners more sympathy, as she argues that she “loves him best” and has suffered the most with the loss of her honor, and is forced to “bear the branded name …show more content…
Despite stating that he “love[s] [Cleopatra] beyond life, conquest, empire”, he accepts Alexas’s lie, that Cleopatra has been unfaithful to him (1.1.491-492). Emotional and melodramatic, Antony states that he wishes “the Furies [would] drag [Alexas] quick to hell” so he may torture Cleopatra there, while he awaits Antony’s arrival (4.1.440-444). Antony does not want Cleopatra to truly die, because once he is told she is dead, he is overwrought with grief. He states, “what should I fight for now? My queen is dead”, indicating that without Cleopatra he has no reason to live (5.1.306). However, prior to Cleopatra’s supposed death, Antony allows his fury to override his common sense. For instance, Antony decides to leave Octavia for the final time (4.1.449-450). This decision has grave consequences, for once Antony’s relationship with Octavia is severed, Octavius no longer has a reason to not to challenge Antony, and his position over Egypt. To make matters worse, when Octavius enters Egypt, Antony does not try to stop him from stealing his hold over Egypt. In fact, Antony appears to invite Octavius into his holdings, when Antony rows out and dismisses the defending naval fleet (5.1.93-105). This allows Octavius to enter Egypt without any barriers. In this final scene Antony has unnessarily sacrificed his military hold over Egypt over bruised feelings. If he dismissed his relationship with …show more content…
Dryden states that he was drawn to the story of Cleopatra and Anthony for the “excellency of the moral” (1). He argues that the couple knowingly committed “crimes of love”, and he argues that they should be pitied. In this way Antony appears rather ordinary, as he has fallen victim to a common ailment like love, and this has ruined him. Since, Antony is both a hero and a noble, he meant to embody the position of aristocracy, and “emphasize the position of the courtiers as opposed to the citizen class” (Cadwell 188) (Bohn 52). In this case Antony does not reflect the supremacy of aristocratic class, as he has failed on several accounts and not lived up to his role. This failure ultimately reflects some of the anxieties about Charles II’s reign. Bohn claims that in the beginning of his reign, Charles was “safe in the new enthusiasm of his people”, however just like Antony, Charles fails in his role (Bohn 53). Bohn points out that Charles II had expensive tastes like mistresses, and that this was part of his downfall (Bohn 53). While Antony’s flaw was not related to money, he does allow his own passions and tastes for women to override his common sense. Ultimately, Antony’s role as a hero, depicts a growing lack of faith in the Restoration period around the